by Catalina Camia, USA TODAY

by Catalina Camia, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - Nearly a year after a scathing self-critique, the Republican Party vowed Friday to push ahead with efforts to make the party more inclusive to win back the White House and elect more GOP lawmakers

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, told party leaders at their winter meeting progress is being made. The RNC is deploying more field workers in Hispanic and black neighborhoods, overhauling its technology to better track voters, and changing its rules to streamline its presidential nominating process.

"We're getting to know communities where we hadn't been for a long time and we're talking to people who hadn't heard from us for too long. That's how you grow a party," Priebus said. "Now, the truth is, this work is never done. It's a permanent operation. That's the new normal. To win, it has to be this way."

After President Obama won a second term, the RNC reviewed what went wrong in the 2012 presidential elections. The 100-page report, called the Growth & Opportunity Project, was unusual for its bluntness. More than 200 recommendations were made, calling for changes in outreach, messaging and tone, technology and data collection,

Since the report was issued last March, the RNC has hired 170 state-level staff so that the party can build year-round and not just before an election. The RNC also deployed 17 political operatives to states such as New York, Florida, California, New Jersey, Texas with the goal of bringing more Hispanics into the Republican Party.

The GOP has also stepped up its engagement with blacks and Asians and other demographic groups.

Priebus also reminded Republicans that they have to set an example with their words and actions.

"I've said many times before that the policies and principles of our party are sound," he said. "However as we look to grow the ranks of our party, we must all be very conscious of the tone and choice of words we use to communicate those policies effectively."

The chairman's admonition came the day after former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who is thinking about running for president in 2016, made comments about contraception and women at an RNC luncheon. Huckabee said Democrats are trying to appeal to women voters by suggesting they cannot manager "their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government."

Democrats immediately seized on Huckabee's remarks as a sign that the GOP's efforts to overhaul its image are not working.

"Mike Huckabee has no idea what he's talking about. If this is the GOP rebrand a year later then all they've gotten is a year older," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

In other business, the RNC ratified rules changes to condense the presidential nominating calendar.

Under the new rules, the 2016 presidential nominating process will run from Feb. 1 to mid-May so that a nominee is effectively selected by March. Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada -- the four states that traditionally hold primaries or caucuses to kick off presidential selection -- will retain their "first-in-the-nation" status.

In 2012, Mitt Romney did not lock up the delegates he needed for the GOP nomination until May. The primaries drained Romney's resources and meant he could not fully engage Obama until after he was formally nominated in late August.

Ron Kaufman, a Romney adviser and GOP national committee member from Massachusetts, said the rules changes "make the process better, fairer."

The RNC did not set its 2016 convention date, but will probably do so at its spring meeting. Priebus has made clear he wants the convention in late June or early July.